POSTGAME QUOTES Mike D'Antoni: On the game:
“They got too many points in the paint. We didn’t battle hard enough in stretches. I did think there was some good, positive stuff. Antawn Jamison was at the four and battled hard. That was good. That opened it up a little bit and we got some three-pointers. Now we just have to get some points in the paint. We haven’t been getting the ball and finishing.” On how to stop teams in the paint:
“We have got to battle. There were just too many second-chance points and too many pick-and-rolls. We weren’t aggressive. We have to get in a little better shape. We are going to start running more. I think it was a little bit better today. Guys have got to be used to this pace. It may take a little bit, but we are going to run up and down. If you can’t run up and down and play then we will have to find guys that will.” On the team:
“They are in the phase of trying to figure things out. We don’t have a nice rhythm. Especially at the beginning of the game we did not. We have just got to do a better job. The Grizzlies are a good team. They play well, so we have to give them credit. At the same time, we have to play as certain way and buck up a little bit. To beat a team on the road like this, you have to play every possession hard, and I don’t think we are there yet.” On Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol:
“We need to figure that one out. I think Pau was off on his shot which didn’t open things up and then they would collapse. We did get a lot of threes because they were collapsing on Dwight, so you have to give and take a little bit. Again, we just need more thrust and more energy. Offense is all about rhythm. We had some sometimes but we have got to maintain the rhythm of the game, and we are not there yet.” On Antawn Jamison:
“He went off. That is what will happen. When you give guys a chance in this league to earn a spot and earn some minutes, that is what happens.” On what to improve:
“It is always a combo. We are going to do things offensively. I thought there were spurts that were good. We battled and caused some turnovers. We had a good third quarter, but we just can’t sustain for 48 minutes right now.” On the Grizzlies:
“They are a good team. They are going to make some shots. There are just little things that we didn’t do. We didn’t trap the pick-and-roll. We have just got to be proactive. We would chip away and they would get a second-chance point. We have just got to do a better job.” Antawn Jamison: On the game:
“It’s difficult, especially on the road, to always play from behind. It seems like for the full 48 minutes we were playing catch up. That team over there (Grizzlies) are too good of a team to do that. We put ourselves in a position to get a run going or get back into it and then not communicating and committing turnovers at the wrong time. I think those things contribute to us never really getting an opportunity to take over the game and win it.” On the team’s defense:
“On a bad night, we are so talented offensively that we still can get close to one hundred points. In order for us to win, which is our ultimate goal, we have to play consistent defense and right now we’re not doing that. We have to understand no matter who we play they are going to bring their A game. They are going to try to outscore us and they are going to play great defense against us. We just have to do a better job as far as having each other’s back and communicating at the opportune time.” Darius Morris: On cutting into the Grizzlies lead:
“We had a stretch when we had unique lineup out there. We moved the ball pretty well and made shots. We got stops more importantly. We were down well over double-digits so it was getting those stops.” On the Grizzlies:
“I think their frontcourt does a great job of crashing the board. Their small forwards are also really aggressive on the boards, even their subs. That was a big key. They got a lot of second chance opportunities. They wore us down on defense and we got a little tired. Whenever you get tired more fouls are more prone to happen.” Pau Gasol: On the Grizzlies:
“They had a better game overall than we did. They were able to move the ball well and pick us apart at times. They got into the heart of our defense way too many times. That hurt us. That put all the big guys in foul trouble. They had (Zach) Randolph and Marc (Gasol) going to the glass. There are some adjustments that we are going to have to make. We must tighten up at least.” On his play:
“Most of the looks I am getting are jump shots. I would like to see something closer to the basket and not just by rolling when Dwight (Howard) is there. We will figure it out. We are just starting.” “I will try to play better next game so I can stay on the court a little longer.” Kobe Bryant: On Pau Gasol:
“He just missed some of the shots that he normally makes. He is getting great looks. They just haven’t fallen for him.”
“It is still a work in progress as far as trying to figure out what we’re doing. We are trying to figure out a balance of when we want to attack. Getting up and down is obviously a big part of it which we are still trying to work on. It is a balance. If he feels like he needs more touches then we will give him some.” On Tony Allen:
“I love Tony. I think the world of him. We have had a lot of battles in the past, sometimes I have gotten the best of him and sometimes he has gotten the best of me. I love going against him. He is a phenomenal player.” Dwight Howard: On the team:
“We have just got to find ways to win. We have got to all get healthy. We’ve just got to keep pushing.” “We have got to find ways to win games now. We have got to get everybody involved. When we do, we win.” Lionel Hollins: On the starters:
I think our guys have been playing well all season. We just got back to it. We did a nice job in the first quarter jumping out 34-18. Then part of the problem with the second unit was matchups. Kobe [Bryant] is out there for many, many [minutes] as he is. We only had one of a couple of people on him. We used JB on him just for a second. We used Rudy [Gay] on him, but we wanted to keep Tony [Allen] and Q [Quincy Pondexter] on him as much as possible and try to wear him down. I don’t think we did. He still had 30 points but he was 7-for-23 which was huge and us having a victory. They have a lot of size with Metta World Peace and Kobe [Bryant], and they keep one or two of those guys in the game. So our small people did get much of an opportunity to play.” On having practice on Thanksgiving before tonight’s game:
“We executed the play very well. Of course you still have to knock it down and Danny did. Timmy set a great screen. It worked out for us." On Lakers three point shooting:
“Well I thought that was the only way with us turning the ball over, fouling and threes, and we didn’t turn the ball over at that point. I thought down the stretch we were very poised, and we got to the foul line ourselves. We had a pretty good game. We held them to two offensive rebounds in the second half. We outrebounded them by 11 in the second half, and they only had four points in the paint in the second half, so obviously they shot the ball from the three. That’s why they were trying to get the ball, but keeping them out of the paint kept them off the free throw line. Other than Kobe [Bryant], they didn’t get to the free throw line. Metta World Peace had four in the first half and didn’t shoot any in the second half. Dwight [Howard] had a couple in the second half because we whacked him before he could score. We were very poised in the second half. We came out strong in the third quarter. It was important after the start to the game that we didn’t want them to get all the way back in the game. We wanted it to just be a dog fight. We wanted to make them play from behind. We had 24 deflections which was huge. We took four charges in the second half alone, and they were huge charges because they had numbers. They ran over us. We just did our little thing.” On going with a huge line up with Darrel Arthur, Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Rudy Gay:
“We were just trying to buy time. We had guys in foul trouble. I wasn’t trying to set a trend or anything. I was just trying to buy time. We even had JB [Jerryd Bayless] guarding Kobe [Bryant], but I knew they were going to post him. So, I put Rudy [Gay] on him, and they just drove by him. At that point, it was only a certain amount of seconds in the half. We just wanted to keep Tony from getting a third foul, and we didn’t want Quincy to get a third foul. So I just left them on the bench.” On team playing unselfish basketball:
“I have said from the beginning that that’s been the thing that I have been most impressed even in training camp, they have been committed to each other. They are playing together. They talk a lot to each other. The spirit and camaraderie is so much better than it has been since I have been here. It is just their individual maturity and their individual commitment to each other.” On Marc Gasol getting more assists this year:
“Guys are making more shots. You can’t get assists if guys don’t make shots. I think we are doing the same as we have in the past, but we have more guys out there making shots, and that helps.” Marc Gasol: On Mike Conley:
“I think he did a great job of saving it, he had everybody else involved. I mean, even when he was comfortable with those shots, he was open. It pretty much was a couple of free throws for him.” On upcoming games:
“They play real hard. Those guys may not have played great so far but they play real hard and you have to match their intensity. They might not have the experience and the talent level than the other team has but their young, they run, they play real hard and we’re going to have to match that in order to win. We’ll always remember that. Trust me, it wasn’t too long ago that we were one of those teams and we were a young team trying to play and those teams are trying to do the same now.” Mike Conley: On balanced scoring:
“It’s very good when we have so many guys scoring, so many guys able to score. We want it to happen every night but we know didn’t nights, we may have different guys. When we’re all clicking we’re a tough team.” On Kobe Bryant:
“You just have to put your best defender on him and have as much help defense as you can, make him take tough shots down the stretch, and try to keep him off the foul line. I thought we did a pretty decent job that, I mean, we did enough of it to win.” On closing out games:
“I think it’s very dangerous to have so many different options. We have so many games, a lot of games. Some nights it’s Marc Gasol’s night, some nights it’s Rudy Gay’s night. You never know who’s going to step up and it’s hard to scheme for that and prepare for that when you have so many guys who can come up big at the end.” On keeping the momentum:
“It’s very important. Playing against teams that are at the top and playing against teams that are at the bottom, there’s no difference. They all play hard. We just have to treat them all the same. Come out and play our kind of basketball and just play hard.” On quick start:
“It’s very important to get a big lead against a good team. You can get a little bit of a comfort level there and try to maintain it throughout the game. You know they’re going to make a run and try to make it back in the game so it was just good to see that we started off good tonight against a very good team.” Darrell Arthur: On performance:
“I feel great. It felt even better we got the win. I felt good out there. I thought we played well, I thought we did our principles down to the T. We only gave up two offensive rebounds in the second half.” On returning to action:
“My body felt well, I had about two or three weeks of practice. I felt good, I felt ready to go. I’ve been ready, sitting out through training camp. I was anxious to get back out there and I feel well. I was excited when coach called me in, I didn’t think I was going to get in honestly but he gave me a chance and I felt great.” On defense:
“I thought we played our principles well. Coach told us we had to keep them out of the paint. Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard like to do that little step-up lob pass and I thought we did well with that. We didn’t give them any alley-oops and I thought we played them well outside of the paint. I think Antawn Jamison came in and gave them a spark off of the bench, but for the most part we did pretty good.” | /esi:vars)
